1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a safety lancet, and more particularly, to a safety lancet capable of fundamentally preventing the reuse of lancets for collecting blood, in order to obviate the possibility of infections arising from such reuse.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lancets (blood collecting needles) are generally used in hospitals and other facilities to conveniently collect blood for the purpose of conducting various tests on patients. For example, a lancet is used to apply pressure to capillary subcutaneous tissue of a finger or toe to draw and collect a small amount of blood, which is then used to measure a diabetic patient's blood-sugar level or is input to a blood analysis device for cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), etc. to perform various blood analyses.
Following blood collection, conventional blood collecting devices were often reused after being washed with water or subjected to simple sterilization, which is a serious form of medical malpractice that can cause the transmission of AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases through tainted blood.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a related art disposable automatic blood collecting device 100 developed to prevent its reuse, which includes a housing 110 having a sectional barrel structure, and a lancet needle 120 for collecting blood. The housing 110 is configured with an upper and lower case 110a and 110b capable of being spread apart and closed. With the upper and lower cases 110a and 110b of the house 110 opened, the lancet needle 120 is stored in a storage space 112, and when the installation of the lancet needle 120 is completed, the upper and lower cases 110a and 110b are converged together to complete the product. The storage space 112 is defined within the housing 110 to store the lancet needle 120 for collecting blood. A front wall opening 116a is defined through a portion of a front wall 116 of the housing 110, a top wall opening 118a-1 is defined in the top wall to correspond to the shape of press/release means 118, and the remaining wall portions are sealed inside and out.
The press/release means 118 is provided on a side of the housing 110 to prevent the lancet needle 120 from travelling forward to the front wall opening 116a of the housing 110. The press/release means 118 is provided with a disengagement prevention catch 111 projecting from a side thereof. and a catching ledge 124 formed at the front end of the lancet needle 120 is maintained in a latched state by the disengagement prevention catch 111 to prevent movement of the lancet needle 120. A concave pressing portion 117 is defined at a predetermined position in the press/release means 118, an anti-slip projection 113 is formed projecting in an undulating manner on the top surface of the pressing portion 117, and a portion at the front end of the press/release means 118 is connected at a predetermined location at the top surface wall of the housing by means of a thin film type connecting piece 114.
During use of the above-configured automatic blood collecting device 100, when a user presses the pressing portion 117 of the press/release means 118 towards the top wall opening 118a-1 of the housing 110, the latching of the catching ledge 124 of the lancet needle 120 to the disengagement prevention catch 111 is disengaged so that it travels toward the front wall opening 116a. Here, the lancet needle 120 receives resilient force from a spring 130 provided within the housing 110 and moves forward toward the front wall opening 116a, and the needle 122 moves to the outside of the front wall opening 116a. In the process of pressing the press/release means 118, the thin film type connecting piece 114 connecting the housing 110 and press/release means 118 is disconnected and separates. Therefore, because the press/release means 118 is not returned to its original position, it cannot fix the lancet needle 120, and can thus prevent reuse of the automatic blood collecting device 100.
However, after the above blood collecting device of the related art is used, the disconnected connecting piece 114 may be reconnected to the upper wall of the housing 110 through melting under a certain temperature, making reuse possible.